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Tom Brokaw was 64 when he left Nightly News in 2004. (I thought he was old then.) John Chancellor was 55. Lester wanting to step away now is just really part of the trend in tv news. Both Brokaw and Chancellor still did stuff for NBC after leaving the Nightly chair and Lester is also. As Walter Cronkite said, “Old anchormen, you see, don’t fade away; they just keep coming back for more.”

I did not realize American baby boomers in prominent jobs were capable of stepping away on top and on their own terms. Good for Lester.

Yeah, this isn't a CBS-like transition. He'll be 66 next month, 10 years in a role that no one ever expected him to assume. Just stepping back from the daily grind. Good anchor, good guy, good for him.

I don’t watch anymore. They cover stories in a breathless fashion with too many mini-packs. Lester jumps to the next topic too fast. Meanwhile, CBS has a great format now. Theirs is the Huntley-Brinkley report of this day.

My opinion, and I'm welcome to it as a non regular viewer. The lighting seems to be too bright and the faces on the set are washed out looking, Seems to need some adjustment. The microphone echo is definitely present. I find the Eyewitness News banner behind the anchors distracting, it's too large. A smaller banner would work better.

I appreciate your affinity for NBC and USA. While this is a creative take, it doesn't consider business realities. Cable channels have dual incomes: subscriber fees from cable operators and advertising. For a long time, they were the envy of the media world, but their revenue has shrunk with cord-cutting. (One can make a pretty compelling case that the cable channel programmers have made their ratings collapse a self-fulfilling prophecy, but that's a topic for another day.) So, combining CNBC with MSNBC would eliminate a huge chunk of subscriber fees. Financially, they need to remain separate. Viewership-wise, they need to remain separate as their audiences are not similar. USA and CNBC are two of the more widely available channels, and MSNBC has consistently been among the Top 5 cable channels in primetime viewership. That's why they are all part of SpinCo. The revenue from these three will drive the new company. Lastly, there's Peacock. As noted in the separation announcement, the cable channels being spun off account for very little of the content streamed on Peacock. Bravo content does well on Peacock, so it's staying put. NBCU is focusing on broadcast and streaming. They see a profitable future in Peacock and FAST channels like NBC News Now. But I did enjoy reading your creative ideas!

Whoever replaces him won’t be able to fill his shoes, Lester is by far the most neutral reporter the network has had. Clearly whoever replaces him which will probably Tom Llamas will have a hard time getting to his level.

I am so sad Lester Holt is a good guy excellent reporter

Not surprising about Wagner given this is the 2nd time MSNBC has cancelled a show of hers. Axing Reid without at least moving her to weekends or keeping her as a contributor is surprising. Not sure Psaki will be a draw the network thinks she'll be. 'The Weekend' team could do well, but who knows???

And unlike Norah (and every recent iteration of CBSEN), Lester always pulled decent ratings.

This is what happens always. The viewers always yell "gee we want a quality newscast". You give them an excellent broadcast and then they are like "lol sike not like that".

I agree. Begin the show with that daily news roundup, but instead extend it to 90 second VOs or VO/SOTs for the first 2-5 mins, then get into feature reporting for the remainder. If CBS torches their best revamp of EN since Bob Schiffer, that would be very unfortunate. To the critics: Every news outlet covers the same thing, it's not a sin that CBS decided to go in a different direction. I really hope the audience gives this a chance. It's a jolting transition because we've been hardwired to fast paced high story count newscasts like the competition. But this is a level of quality rare for American TV news that we'd more see from PBS or Europeran sources like BBC and France 24. I hope people will open their minds to this. If this crashes and burns, I don't think the evening news can get much better than this. Just give the timeslot back to the affiliates.

If the ESPN package stays on linear, Fox would be the most likely candidate. They are MLB’s biggest media partner by far.

This is a general thread to discuss ABC World News. I'll start it off by saying I find it very odd that during sweeps Diane would be on and off. She has been in and out for the past 2 weeks with David and George filling in.

It’s likely going to be Llamas who replaces Holt and I could see Jackson taking weekends (in addition to a more prominent role on NN during the week). Which means, Diaz-Balart moves to NBC News Now as they could use more NBC News veterans. And now that they cut his MSNBC show, he’s free to do more. Guthrie should remain on Today. I know they have been pushing her the past couple of years, but she can be insufferable.

Any show or network overtaking another is a tough task in the modern streaming era. For most networks and shows, its about retaining the viewers you still have. To start, if Tom (or whoever the successor may be) can hold Lester's numbers, that's a fine win. As @EVVTV12 summarized above, Lester isn't leaving because of ratings, health, major shakeup... His exit is on par with his predecessors, and seems by all accounts to be in his terms- That suggests NBC has been happy with how things have fared with NN, and if anything they'll want the successor to maintain the status quo.

Tom Llamas is probably the successor don’t know if he’ll overtake ABC but it’s a fair choice. Even David Muir congratulated Lester on him stepping down, so even he knows what he up against next a former ABC colleague. He’s okay, don’t think he’ll overtake Muir nobody is overtaking ABC. I think in fact he’ll be fighting with CBS more.

White Sox scorebug now that they're on the Chicago Sports Network.

New MLB scorebug

It will be interesting where the Sunday Night Baseball package goes to come 2026, I think maybe FS1 if FOX Sports takes the package, maybe The CW will bid on it, streaming Netflix, Amazon Prime Video etc. I'm surprised that ESPN didn't ask for a discount a few years ago when they decided not to air as many MLB games that would've been the right time for them to do it in my opinion.

The new schedule is here. Highlights: - Jen Psaki moves to Tuesday-Friday 9pm. - Rachel Maddow reverts to Mondays only. - A new evening show with The Weekend's hosts (2 hours on Mondays; 1 on Tue-Fri). - Expansions of the Reports shows to two hours each on dayside. - Jonathan Capehart gets a new weekend morning show. - Ayman and Velshi get new (expaned) weekend hours. All moves starting this spring.

Tom Llamas is the obvious choice. He's okay to me. Hallie Jackson has been heavily tapped for breaking news coverage so she's my next guess. Third option, based on her co-anchoring with Lester for big events is Savannah Guthrie. I'm guessing however than NBC doesn't want to mess with Today any further since Hoda left.

I mean Lester is 65 so he’s at about retirement age. Could be his way of slowing down while still being active

It's been 10 years, so he's probably not renewing his contract (NBC probably cut what it would have been anyway). Maybe Jose Diaz-Balart moves over from the weekend to take over? He seems like a better choice over Tom Llamas.

He was in over his head at noon & 5 on WNBC, he was bland as all get out on ABC, so my expectations are low for Tom. I said it over the Discord, but I'll ask here; he was clearly hired to be NBC's Muir, but will he end up being more of a Jeff Glor?

I know that his would probably not happen, but in my opinion, I think some of these suggestions would have been the better solution. Comcast should keep USA & possibly Bravo. Merge CNBC & MSNBC - then, change their lineup - Call it NBC News Network (NNN) Program during M-F daytime NNN News Reports, with sub titles including NNN News reports - power lunch segments, closing bell, & so forth Prime time would be NNN News Reports - with Analysis from Rachael Maddow, Lawrence o Donnel, & Chris Hayes, but also include their top conservative analysts as well. Don't have the the analysts host the show, but have your network personalities do that, like Lestor Holt, Tom Llamas. & others. Weekend air sports or other news programs. Use the name of their other channels as brands & stream it on peacock. Scy Fy on Peacock, Oxygen network on Peacock, E on Peacock, & so on. Or take their most popular shows on each network & combine them to be on USA as well as stream them on peacock Then, shut down the other channels jf the channels continue to not be successful, just like they did with Universal Kids. Move programs & events from the golf channel to USA network.

MCA Media (the Miracle Channel) is bringing what is described as "a version" (presumably including Canadian-produced shows) of the channel to Canada: https://thedesk.net/2025/02/dr-phil-ending-cbs-syndication-merit-street/

Yeah it's an evolution indeed from their previous set, arguably one of the nicest in the market, just well executed and placed properly. The lighting is great, the set is large and no longer cramped, overall a major much needed improvement that we've all waited years for. Cant wait to see the other one elements and how the dynamics are put it to use during their other shows. Overall it's an incredibly wonderful improvement! Gonna really miss the streetside studio, at this point only Chicago's Eyewitness News (WLS-TV) has the State Street Studio if I remember correctly. Only gripe I have is the ticker with the Eyewitness News and ABC7NY etc, I don't think having that moving behind them is necessary, its a bit too busy, but other than that, its an amazingly beautiful set! WABC now the cream of the crop with their on air presentation and product.

For some of these smaller markets with umpteen hours of local news, the move sort of makes sense. Most of the material is C-block grade and local weather is much more appealing than the new "Krispy Kreme donut" or the latest "caught on video" story ...

It is sad to see WABC and the ABC network in general leaving its longtime home on the Upper West Side especially with all of the memories, newscasts, and personalities that have been coming in and out of those doors but I am glad that they are planning for the future and 7 Hudson Square will be able to accommodate those needs. The same standards that made the station the most watched in the Tri-State and in the whole nation will continue and will improve with being housed in this modern facility as well as the standards of the ABC News division. I am based in Los Angeles but I know people in New York so it is going to be a change for them when they watch Eyewitness News and network news programming.

In what may be the shortest main anchor stint, Chris Nguyen who joined KOMO in Seattle left the station after less then 3 months. https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2025/2/18/that-did-last-long

Still, at least Dr. Phul-Ovit is off of broadcast stations.

They just had a really cool closing “thanking” viewers for watching and visiting them all these years in their building. They ended with a long zoom out of the outside of the studio and the extended theme. If anyone has it recorded and can post it was pretty cool. New set debuts at 6pm tomorrow

'Plus' shouldn't have been launched in the first place. The focus should have been on strengthening 'Evening News' before even thinking about having a companion program. They didn't launch CBS Mornings + until they felt good about where CBS Mornings was (format, ratings, etc...). Sure, in theory. I think the question for them is balancing what's worth reporting on and what isn't and how much time do you devote to certain things. It's not surprising that they making adjustments (...that was to be expected).

That weather report is fantastic! /s

NBC & Peacock could share the rights for Sunday night baseball.

Or just call it after Fred Roggin's Sunday show for years at KNBC... Sunday Night Sports. I mean, if they show more than just football on Sundays year round, then might as well call it the obvious. EDIT: Don't forget also during the Olympic years where there'll be coverage there too on Sundays.

Meanwhile, Dr. Phil (reruns) is exiting broadcast syndie after this season. All eppys will be exclusive to Merit TV. It appears the said reruns will end on OWN as well. https://tvnewscheck.com/programming/article/merit-tv-now-exclusive-home-to-all-21-seasons-of-dr-phil/

We are going on 6 years with the graphics package. This is actually a nice refresh and update to the Lower Thirds. Looks like each station in the group have went different directions either by changing the colors away from the Red, White and Blue or some have switched to the LIVENOW on FOX lower thirds

My first thought was actually: Very Fox & Friends. Next step should be to get the weather graphics to match.

The intro and outro were the new ones.

The special reports from this morning were using the old lower 3rd again, but with bolder text. Another special report later in the morning went back to the new lower 3rd.

End of an era. Remembering the team of Dennis, Julie, Mark and Bill.

NBC announced earlier today that Mike Tirico is gonna be the lead play-by-play announcer for their NBA coverage next season.

Yes DC has always had strong, legendary news stations. Back in the day on WRC you had Jim Vance, Doreen Gentzler, Bob Ryan, George Michael and Arch Campbell. And WUSA featured Gordon Peterson, Maureen Bunyeon and Warner Wolf. And WJLA had Renee Poussaint. Great talent back in the day.

The special report on the California wildfire is also using the new lower 3rd.

I know on occasion they use different graphics for these special events. We’ll see if it changes back to the old graphics on upcoming special reports.

In this day and age, it's a win for broadcast. The path for any sport other than the NFL and NCAA football is a murky one since the RSN's and leagues have pretty much swallowed up baseball, basketball and hockey aside from marquee games on the networks.

I'm not surprised Nexstar is suing the FCC as they should since the 3 on The FCC abuse their power way too much thinking that it is still the 1960s which it isn't with the outdated rules that need to be fixed. Broadcasters are facing Big Tech since the days of 3 to 4 channels are over and the FCC acts like there isn't any competition when there clearly is with Big Tech. The 3 on The FCC don't get it and don't like business at all which isn't right.

Right on! I've been enjoying this weeks team of Josh Lara Dan and Ginger.